Breathing.  This innate and vital action, which you are no doubt engaging in right now, provides one very efficient and simple way to get in - and stay in - your body.  However, simple does not necessarily mean easy.  I mean, on one hand, you are breathing, right?  Of course you are!  We all know that no breath equals no life. 

However, if you pay attention right now to your breath, what do you notice?  Many of you will find that, while it is true you are breathing, your breath may be very light, shallow, and barely perceptible.  It turns out that most of us have learned to survive quite well on these tiny, barely-there wisps of breath.  And it’s true.  We are surviving.  But surviving well is a far cry from living well.  And, when it comes right down to it, aren’t you really here to live?

The connection between your breath and your body is innate, irreversible, undeniable, and profound.  Because of the way we are put together, if you are barely breathing, you are barely in your body.  And, even more importantly, if you are barely breathing, you are barely feeling.  And that “barely feeling part”, believe it or not, is what is wreaking the most havoc on your life and your ability to fire it up in the ways you’ve dreamed of for so long.  Remember, your mind has come to believe that it is safest if it consistently leaves the body.  And that mind strategy has A LOT to do with staying away from feeling. 

But, if you have lost your capacity to feel freely, deeply, and fully whatever is up for you in the moment, you have basically lost your ability to wakefully, precisely, and accurately make decisions for yourself which are resonant and aligned.  And without this ability, well…you are not so much choosing your way through life, as much as reacting your way through life. 

But, we’ll get more into feeling elsewhere on the site…  For now, it is enough for you to understand that getting back into your body is critical and one way to do that most powerfully and readily is by bringing consciousness to your breath. 

If you take a minute to focus on your breathing right now, what do you notice?  Is your breath shallow?  Is it coming from higher or lower in your lungs?  Is your breathing fast, slow, medium?  Is your chest tight…or loose?  Does your breath flow freely or is it constricted?  Is your belly relaxed or contracted? 

There are no wrong or right answers to these questions.  Any time you take up a practice which is about becoming more aware of what you are experiencing, it is never about judging that experience as right or wrong.  You are only looking for information.  Every experience you give yourself here is about trying to understand yourself more deeply and clearly - including the experience of watching the ever changing quality of your breath.

For instance, if you’ve noticed that you are breathing rather shallowly, using only the upper portion of your lungs, you can use this as important information.  You may be trying to tell yourself that you are avoiding a feeling or two and have learned to keep the breath “up top” so as not to go too deeply into some scary emotional territory. 

Or perhaps you’ve noticed that your belly is contracted and this is making it difficult for you to breathe fully and comfortably.  This may bring up a memory of being told to “hold your stomach in” because, let’s face it, having a noticeable belly here, in this culture, is just simply out of the question.  (Don’t even get me started here on this one!!  Grrrrrr…  We’ll get further into this subject in other sections of this site having to do with weight and aging!)

Remember that whatever you find, it is important information you are trying to give yourself about what is going on within you.  Not good or bad information.  Just the up-to-the-moment, newsy news about you and your current state of being.

Now, are you beginning to notice that, once you are paying attention to your breath, you oh-so-naturally begin to pay attention to your body?  Perhaps you just unconsciously straightened up so that you could breathe more fully and easily.  Perhaps you recognized a tightness in your throat which you didn’t know was there a second ago.  Or maybe you found that focusing on your breath for even a minute is excruciatingly long and uncomfortable for your mind because c’mon, what are you doing just sitting there breathing when you could be doing something really important and productive!  Again, simply notice your experience without judging yourself.

Your ability to breathe fully and consciously is the means by which you enliven all of your cells.  It calls into action the proper functioning of all of your organs, your blood, your muscle tissue, and your bones.  It is the spark which ignites all other sparks.  It is the life-energy of the Soul itself moving in (enlivening) and out (releasing) of Its vessel, providing the on-going rhythm to which all of your experiences will dance. 

Your full and free breath supports your digestion, your ability to think, your sleep patterns and your sexual desire.  It greatly impacts your creativity, your flexibility, and the length of time you can snorkel under water.  Breathing helps you to find your balance so that you can snowboard, dance, skip or hoola-hoop your way to stardom.  It guides you into your connection with the cosmos and all aspects of physical reality.  And, it reassures the heart and soothes the mind when you find yourself in a challenging and stressful situation.

Breathing practices abound which you can utilize to help you regain the habit of fully breathing - which will help you regain the habit of staying in your body.  Here’s one I invite you to try…

Compartmentalized Breathing

*Imagine that your lungs are divided into three chambers: upper, middle, and lower.  The upper chamber is located just under your collar bone, the middle chamber is at the middle of your chest, and the lower chamber ends just above your diaphragm.

*Take a breath and fill, to the count of three, first the lower chamber, then the middle, and then the upper.  You can say to yourself, “Lower 1…2…3, Middle 1…2…3, Upper 1…2…3″  You can also place your hand over the chamber you are breathing into which can help you get a better feel and focus.

*Hold for the count of three.

*Release the breath, to the count of three, lower 1…2…3, middle 1…2…3, and upper 1…2…3.  And hold for another count of three. 

*Start with two or three of these cycles then, as you feel ready or inclined or curious, slowly add more.

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You may practice compartmentalized breathing as often as you like throughout your day.  It is especially helpful: after meals, when you are feeling stressed or notice you are dissociating, when you want to be sure you are fully in your body, after you have made love, before you speak in public, when you wish to oxygenate and revitalize your entire system, or just before challenging your best friend to a pizza eating contest.

Another simple yet powerful practice is to learn how to direct your breath into any and all parts of your body.  Did you know that you can breathe nurturing and vital energy into your lower back?  Or your toes?  Or your right elbow?  It just takes a bit of consciousness and practice. 

Try this:  As you breathe in, consciously invite your breath to enter any part of your body you would like to nurture.  Lightly guide the breath with your intention.  You do not have to work hard at this, or push, or force, or make anything happen.  Your intention, awareness, and breath will be enough.  Simply invite the breath into wherever you wish it to go, and then allow it to go there.  It’s really that easy!

When you first try this, you may not notice much of anything happening.  However, as you practice you will undoubtedly find that there is actually a very visceral, physical sensation that happens when you have breathed into a specific part of your body.  You will literally feel it.  And the feel is one you just may decide you like…very much! 

Breathing consciously like this reminds you that you are indeed, inhabiting a body, and that your body is intricately tied to your breath.  One does not exist without the other.  You are also offering yourself a very kind and nurturing experience, and the more of those you start giving yourself, well…look out!  Entire worlds will change with just that one, little shift.

Breathing fully requires that you consciously open to your breath which is the same thing as saying you get to consciously open to more of yourself.  For instance, you may, as I mentioned above, have been taught to hold your belly in and keep it in, no matter what - especially when that cute someone comes around that you are just dying to get to know better.  But because everything here is connected to everything else, when you tighten one aspect of yourself - like your belly - everything else becomes tightened to some degree as well:   your mind, your heart, your throat, your neck, your shoulders…you get the picture.

And if you’re tightening, you’re most likely doing so because you are scared.  Scared of not being good enough, of what might happen if you let go, or of being out of control.  Opening to yourself means you are turning to face these often long-standing fears - which means you are taking another step towards freeing yourself.  And…opening is a process.  For, opening the heart-space can bring up fears around intimacy and love as well as feelings of deep vulnerability.  Opening the belly may catalyze fears of not being worthy or beautiful or acceptable.  And opening the throat can show us how deeply afraid we are to articulate and share our own wildly beautiful and unique truth.

And what important practice plays a part in opening each of these spaces?  You guessed it.  Breathing.  Breathe into your heart-space and see what happens.  Fill your belly with deep breath and feel the sensation.  You might be surprised by how something so very simply and elegantly natural, can catalyze such a profound change in the way you experience yourself.

Oh, and one more teeny-weeny thing your breath will catalyze?  Presence.  Breathing consciously will immediately bring you into NOW.  The only place in “time” which really, truly matters.  Now.  This moment.  Where all of life actually happens.  And once you are here, Now, the sky is the limit as to what you can create and experience. 

All of this from just breathing?  Really?  Yes.  All of this and more.  This is how powerful and important it is for you to begin fully and consciously breathing - as often as possible.  Your breath truly is the doorway into the most hidden aspects of You and all that is possible for you here on earth.

So now, off you go to notice your breath, surrender to your experience, take in the information you are giving yourself, and see what happens.  You may just find yourself exuberantly welcomed back home, into your very own bodacious bod, right where you belong!  And that means, you’re now getting ready for the real party to begin!